Greetings Friends, Family, and Music Enthusiasts,
Happy holidays to all. We truly hope the rough year that was 2020 found you and yours as happy, healthy and safe as can be. As rough as the year was, here at NotRock it has also been a year of celebration! Twenty years have passed since the inception of NotRock and boy has a lot happened in that time. From our very first shows (under the moniker NotRock Productions), to our first physical music release (the dreaded 4-Band Sampler Cassette), to a slew of compilations (both holiday and regular), to many other releases involving countless hours of cutting, folding, and silk screening. Although we didn't release much as far as new music this year, we did get to spend a lot of time digging through the archives, unearthing many a treasure and putting together a comprehensive collection of music commemorating our 20th year. Say hello to the NotRock 20th Anniversary Compilation: Volume 1. This comp is a deep dive best of, collection of songs taken from every one of our releases. There are 75 songs in all and every one of them are annotated by all the artists that brought them to life! Looking back on all this great art has been nostalgically exciting, inspiring, and humbling. It's been an honor to work with so many fantastically creative minds over the years and we want to thank them for allowing us to be the custodians of their great and important art, hopefully documenting and preserving it for many, many many, years to come. Behold the first in what will be a two volume set:
The other new release of 2020 was actually the unearthing and proper treatment of record that has long been on the shelf. Back around 2005 Ralph (of Do Nothing Machine, Feu de Joie, and Please Exist) had planned on releasing music that he had written and performed all himself. He recorded the drums to 4-Track cassette, transferred them over to James' computer where James mixed them. Then Ralph recorded and mixed everything else by himself on his computer ending up with one hell of a debut alum. For years it sat unreleased because Ralph had always planned to "redo them better" and he even did record a lot of them over with James engineering but they all remained unfinished. Years passed and every few months John would plead with Ralph to just release the original version, that it was a great sounding record and the world deserved to hear it. Eventually Ralph caved and we can happily finally say we digitally released his debut CHUDLEY: Sugar And Razorblades this past summer. It's a record that is not to be missed and one that is more than worthy amongst our NotRock catalog. Here it is finally!
In other NotRock news:
- Please Exist are done tracking instruments for their forthcoming epic double album "Storytellers In Straightjackets.
- Hides A Well continues to write music but in limited fashion due to the pandemic.
- Khantra had plans to record a 6 song EP last spring but pandemic put that on hold until further notice.
- Reynolds 853 finished writing their debut album "John Adam and Dan Vs. Jean Claude Van Dam" and are slated to record it later this month!
That's all the fun and exciting news for now. Until next time, be kind, take care and check out these...
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